Does anybody remember a book that came out in the 1980s - early, I think - that was later made into a tv mini-series about a televangelist who got his start in Texas? It's totally fiction, and I remember vividly the paperback in my head as being dark green...but I can't remember the name.

That certainly seems to be right. According to IMDB, there was a miniseries in the 80s called Celebrity. A user provided the following description:

"Three guys were involved in a rape when they were young. The crime is covered up, and the guys grow up and go their separate ways. One becomes a reporter who gets involved in a fight against the Ku Klux Klan. The second turns out to be a closeted gay man who hides his secret from his wife. The third hides his dirty deeds behind the facade of being a popular pastor. A court case that could destroy all three men brings them back together again."

I didn't read the book but saw the mini-series many years ago. It popped into my head that it might be the one and the same but could not remember the title. What I remember the most about the movie was the preacher justifying his behavior of raping the woman. What a jerk! He was so slick and so oily just like a lot of the TV evangelists you see today. Just an opportunist. These guys give religion a bad name.

Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:08 am Post subject: The book not like the movie

KarenS wrote:

I didn't read the book but saw the mini-series many years ago. It popped into my head that it might be the one and the same but could not remember the title. What I remember the most about the movie was the preacher justifying his behavior of raping the woman. What a jerk! He was so slick and so oily just like a lot of the TV evangelists you see today. Just an opportunist. These guys give religion a bad name.

Karen -

I don't remember much about the movie - or the book, for that matter - but was surprised when I couldn't find it in my house the other night. I guess when we did our library purge last summer, I got rid of it. But I THINK it was a pretty good book._________________Laurie Gold
http://laurie-gold.blogspot.com